Goodwin further added that “feedback from our clients across the globe suggests that many are under pressure to do more with fewer resources, particularly human ones”.

Besides, there is a steady fall in the percentage of organisations shedding staff – down from 20 per cent in April to 18 per cent in August and just 16 per cent in December – which means workforces are stabilising.

Moreover, although overall hiring is down, the percentage of businesses that are letting staff go has dropped slightly – from 23 per cent to 20 per cent, which suggests the beginning of a more settled job market.

Some sectors are performing particularly well and recruitment within white-collar professions is showing greater levels of activity.

Within financial services 67 per cent of companies are currently hiring for accounting roles and the same percentage of employers are looking for senior staff to work in banking.

The report said the feeling seems to be that the sourcing of talent is going through a period of “wait and see”. There is an atmosphere of expectancy, that something, hopefully positive, is about to happen, but in the meantime caution prevails.

The survey covered around 17,000 organisations in major markets across 52 countries on whether they were currently recruiting or letting staff go at a managerial and professional level and whether they intended to do so over the coming quarter.